Dennis Coffey - s/t lp (STRUT Records)

$24.99

Motown legend! Features Mick Collins,Rachel Nagy, and Lisa Kekaula!

"Guitarist of choice for major artists as diverse as Del Shannon,
Funkadelic and The Temptations, Coffey was a member of the original
Motown ’Funk Brothers’ backing band and was key in bringing heavy wah
wah guitar to soul and R&B during the late ’60s.

The canon of classics featuring Coffey’s work is immense - from
Temptations’ ’Ball Of Confusion’ and ’Cloud Nine’ to Edwin Starr’s ’War’
and Freda Payne’s ’Band Of Gold’, the list is a roll-call of classic
soul and R&B landmarks.
As a solo artist, Coffey is perhaps best known for a series of rare
groove classics during the early ‘70s including the million-selling
breakbeat staple ‘Scorpio’ and soundtrack to cult action flick ’Black
Belt Jones’. Alongside producer Mike Theodore, his ‘70s ‘Theo-Coff’
productions and his prolific guitar work ranged from raw funk to classic
disco, including CJ & Co’s ‘Devil’s Gun’ and The Sylvers’ ’Boogie
Fever’.
For 2011, Dennis Coffey’s new self-titled album is a revelation, a
dense, fuzz-heavy haze of incendiary psychedelic soul. Much of the set
recalls the sentiments of earlier solo work such as his seminal, trippy
’Hair ’N’ Thangs’ album.

For these sessions, in addition to a host of new compositions, Coffey
personally cherry-picks tracks upon which he first appeared and enlists
an illustrious guest list for all-new interpretations. Stones Throw’s
new soul hero Mayer Hawthorne takes up The Parliaments’ poignant
mid-tempo swayer ’All Your Goodies Are Gone’, Fanny Franklin from killer
Hollywood funk combo Orgone voices a new version of Wilson Pickett’s
psych-soul jam ’Don’t Knock My Love’ and Lisa Kekaula from California
garage-soul band The Bellrays takes on the 100 Proof Aged In Soul
stomper ’Somebody’s Been Sleeping’. The Detroit connection looms large
throughout the set – Mick Collins from the Dirtbombs alongside Detroit
Cobras’ Rachel Nagy unleash a dark, brooding take on Funkadelic’s ’I Bet
You’. UK chart sensation Paolo Nutini contributes a passionate version
of Rodriguez' „Only Good For Conversation.“ Completing the list of
collaborations, Milwaukee funk sensations Kings Go Forth (Luaka Bop)
mould an intense funk jam around some heavy Coffey licks on ’Miss
Millie’.
For his new compositions on the album, Coffey revisits the
uncompromising instrumental style he is renowned for. Album opener ’7th
Galaxy’ echoes the hard guitar ’n’ breaks of his Detroit Guitar Band
recordings for Sussex, ’Knockabout’ whips up an epic funky soundtrack
groove and ’Space Traveller’ simmers on a sleazy, guitar-drenched, slo
mo workout." - Strut Records